Finding documentation on ArcGIS Server's Tilemap API call?

Question

While I was looking in Developer console, for a JavaScript App which was consuming a Tiled Map Service, I saw that it was making calls to an URL like:

https://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Reference/World_Boundaries_and_Places/MapServer/tilemap/4/8/8/8/8

When I tried to figure out what this is, the only place where I found some information, is in this Github Ticket: https://github.com/Esri/esri-leaflet/issues/240

According to this comment, this rest end point tells the JSAPI where there are tiles and where there are not.

That comment was back in 2014. Is any public Documentation available on this REST Endpoint?

Answer 1

Some information regarding a TileMap request / response.

The recommended method for detecting missing tiles uses a tilemap request, which is currently specific to the basemap and elevation tile services***. It is not yet available as part of ArcGIS Server. This request is available if the service root info capabilities includes the Tilemap keyword, as shown above. The tilemap request returns a JSON structure containing tile presence information for an area of a specific level.

The level, row, and column arguments select the level and the top-left tile location, while the width and height specify the size of the requested area. The response includes the following: a validity flag; a location structure with left, top, width, and height values defining the area; and a data array of size width x height, which contains a 1 if the respective tile exists or a 0 if the respective tile is missing. The data array is in row-major order.

*** in my opinion - meaning esri content delivery services, not your own basemap/elevation services.

And so on (read the topic, mostly towards the bottom of the page for full reference)

Answer 2

No, there isn't any public documentation for the tilemap response.

Answer 3

Here is the link to arcgis rest api documentation

And here is the page specific to Map tile